Olympic Champions head up GB Track Cycling World Championships squad

A quartet of Olympic champions will be among those chasing further success after the Great Britain Cycling Team was announced for next month’s UCI Track Cycling World Championships.

Katie Archibald and Elinor Barker – half of Team GB’s gold-medal winning women’s team pursuit squad last year – are included, as are Steven Burke and Callum Skinner, both of whom also won gold in Rio.

They are four of 20 riders named in the squad for the Championships in Hong Kong from April 12-16, with a ten of those making their Worlds debut.

Four-time Olympic Champion Laura Kenny will miss the event after announcing last month she is expecting her first child with husband Jason Kenny – the latter also absent after taking an extended break following Rio.

And with a mixture of experience and newcomers among the squad, head coach Iain Dyer was excited to see what his Hong Kong-bound riders could deliver.

“The team is made up of a good mix of experienced and developing riders across all the disciplines,” he told told British Cycling.

“Throughout the earlier World Cups and at the UEC European Track Championships last year, there was a good opportunity to bring some new riders into the front line.

“They gave a really good account of themselves and that’s reflected in the selections we’ve made today. I’m looking forward to seeing them step up into world championship level competition.

“It’s also great to have some of our Olympians in the squad. This year’s worlds will allow them to race different events which were not possible in previous years due to the focus on the Olympic events.

“This is particularly true for the endurance riders who can broaden their experience in the new format omnium plus the madison, which both have the potential to feature in the Tokyo 2020 track cycling programme.

“It’s a great experience for our younger riders to make their debut performances alongside such established athletes and I’m sure they will learn a lot from this opportunity."